History of Cricket In Hong Kong – Chronology

Cricket has been played in Hong Kong for over 160 years. The rich tradition of the game will remain as an enduring legacy of the colonial era, and provides a solid foundation for the future growth of cricket as a popular sport amongst the local community.

There are many milestones of note and the following chronology makes very interesting reading:

1841 * First game of cricket played in Hong Kong

1851 * Hong Kong Cricket Club founded

1866 * First Interport match between Hong Kong and Shanghai

1888 * First recorded match by Diocesan Boys School

1890 * First Interport match v The Straights
* First match v Ceylon

1892 * On 10th October, the P&O steamship SS Bokhara, carrying the Hong Kong cricket team back from an Interport against Shanghai, sinks in a typhoon with the loss of 125 lives. Only two members of the 13-man Hong Kong cricket team survived the disaster. [Sinking of the SS Bokhara]

1894 * Craigengower Cricket Club founded

1897 * Hong Kong Parsee Cricket Club founded

1903 * Civil Service Cricket Club founded
* Police Recreation Club founded

1903-4 * First Division League Cricket commenced

1904 * Kowloon Cricket Club founded

1906 * Club de Recreio founded

1911 * Chinese Recreation Club founded

1912 * The University of Hong Kong founded

1914-17 * Matches suspended due to World War I

1918 * Indian Recreation Club founded

1921-22 * Second Division League Cricket commenced
* First recorded match by King George the Fifth School (KGV, then known as Central British School)

1941-48 * Matches suspended due to World War II

1948 * Last recorded Interport match v Shanghai

1951 * 100th Anniversary of Hong Kong Cricket Club

1952 * Jack Chegwyn’s team become the first International team to visit Hong Kong

1961 * Craigengower Sixes commenced

1962 * St Georges Cricket Club founded

1964 * Little Sai Wan Cricket Club founded

1966 * First MCC team to visit Hong Kong

1967-68 * Gillette Cup competition introduced

1968 * Hong Kong Cricket Association replaces the Hong Kong Cricket League
* First recorded match by Island School

1969 * HKCA becomes Associate Member of the International Cricket Council

1970-71 * Rothmans Cup competition introduced

1973-74 * Sunday and Saturday Leagues replace First and Second Divisions

1997 * Hong Kong hosts first One day International between Australia and The Rest of the World at KCC
* Hong Kong finishes 8th in ICC Trophy
* Hong Kong team wins Bowl at International Sixes after victories over India and South Africa
* Handover of Sovereignty of Hong Kong from Great Britain to China
* Tuanku Ja’afar Cup further expanded to include an Under-15 and Under-13 competitions
* Hong Kong hosts the Asian Cricket Council Under-19 tournament (Youth Asia Cup) and finishes third

2001 * Hong Kong senior team retains the Tuanku Ja’afar Cup in a rain-affected tournament played in Thailand
* Hong Kong beats PNG at the 2001 ICC Trophy played in Toronto, Canada but fails to progress past the preliminary round of the tournament
* Hong Kong finishes runners-up at the Under-13 South East Asia Championships in Penang
* Hong Kong finishes runners-up at the inaugural Under-19 East Asia-Pacific Championships played in Fiji
* Hong Kong hosts the Under-15 Tuanku Ja’afar Cup 2001 and finishes second
* The Hong Kong International Cricket Sixes returns to the Kowloon Cricket Club
* The 2001 Hong Kong International Cricket Sixes website attracts over 1 million visitors
* Hong Kong hosts the ACC Curatorship Seminar
* HKCA’s junior cricket programmes attain a 96% take-up rate
* Teams from the Marylebone Cricket Club and Melbourne Cricket Club join in a festival of cricket to celebrate the 150th Anniversary of the Hong Kong Cricket Club